NBA Decades Battle!

[jpotter33]

Rules:

1) Produce the best 5-man unit for a single decade, keeping in mind fit, position, etc.
2) Assume the player at his peak during the decade, i.e. KG would be in 2004 MVP form in the 2000's decade.
3) A player can only be counted in one decade, and preference should be given to when he played the best and/or won the most rings to decide between decades, i.e James would be in 2010's rather than 2000's because he won his titles in 2010's, and Shaq would be 2000's rather than 1990's for same reason.
4) 2010's only extends until our present time, so do not try to calculate a young player's development like Wiggins or Towns.

(This poll was inspired by this link: http://uproxx.com/dimemag/2015/07/nba-1990s-vs-2000s-best-ever/6/)

I'm not even going to try earlier than the 80's, but here are my teams:
2010's: CP3, Durant, James, Davis, Gasol
2000s: Nash, Bryant, Pierce, Duncan, O'neal (Had to put PP in there since Duncan beat out KG)
1990's: Stockton, Jordan, Pippen, Malone, Olajuwon
1980's: Thomas, Magic, Bird, Malone, Abdul-Jabbar

This is tough, but in my opinion it goes something like: 2010's > 1980s > 1990s > 2000s.

What say you? What five man units would you put out there? Who did I miss or get wrong?

[D.o.s.]

Probably 70's>2010's>80's>90's>'00's

Am I giving the 70's the nod because they have the most talented bigs (to wit:Wilt, Kareem, and Walton?) Absolutely.

No real time to flesh this out right now but I'll come back to it.

[Celtics4ever]

I will take the 80s

PG Magic Johnson
SG George Gervin
SF Larry Bird
PF  Kevin McHale
C  Kareem

backups, Isiah Thomas,  Dominique, Moses Malone, , DJ, Alex English, Adrian Dantley, Jack Sigma.

[jpotter33]

Well see if you let players be in more than one decade then I think the 80's has it hands down due to the addition of Jordan. However, if you follow the rules above and only let a player represent one decade, then it becomes more difficult, because Jordan obviously belongs in the 90's over the 80's.

The same issue comes up with Kareem, because do you count him for the 70's or 80's? He won most of his titles in the 80's, but he won more individual accolades in the 70's.

It's an inherently difficult determination to make.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Well see if you let players be in more than one decade then I think the 80's has it hands down due to the addition of Jordan. However, if you follow the rules above and only let a player represent one decade, then it becomes more difficult, because Jordan obviously belongs in the 90's over the 80's.

The same issue comes up with Kareem, because do you count him for the 70's or 80's? He won most of his titles in the 80's, but he won more individual accolades in the 70's.

It's an inherently difficult determination to make.

There's a lot of players that deserve credit for multiple decades and are hard to place. While guys like Magic and Bird are pretty much known for one decade, how do you place guys like: Drexler, Barkley, Jordan, Kareem, Dr. J, etc..?
It's difficult for me to place guys like that but if you wanna put Jordan and Kareem in the 80s you can make a lineup of:

Kareem
Bird
Wilkins
Jordan
Magic

I'd like to see any other decades team try to top that.

[Who]

1960s

C: W.Chamberlain
F: B.Russell
F: E.Baylor
G: J.West
G: O.Robertson

That is going to be a tough team to beat.

[bdm860]

The same issue comes up with Kareem, because do you count him for the 70's or 80's? He won most of his titles in the 80's, but he won more individual accolades in the 70's.

It's an inherently difficult determination to make.

This is an issue that can only be solved with a classic Celticsblog historical draft.  We need 7 GM's, each GM selects a decade (combining 40's/50's), can only pick a player who played in your decade, and once a player's picked he's off the board for everybody.

You get stuck with a lousy decade, then play defensive to mess with your opponents.  Draft Bob Cousy for the 70's team just to keep him off the 50's and 60's teams.  Draft '00 Pippen, so the '09 LeBron you drafted with your first pick doesn't have to worry about being shut down by '94 Pippen.

That could be fun.

[apc]

1960s

C: W.Chamberlain
F: B.Russell
F: E.Baylor
G: J.West
G: O.Robertson

That is going to be a tough team to beat.

Those guys are probably in their 70s, shouldn’t be too hard to beat.

[jpotter33]

Well see if you let players be in more than one decade then I think the 80's has it hands down due to the addition of Jordan. However, if you follow the rules above and only let a player represent one decade, then it becomes more difficult, because Jordan obviously belongs in the 90's over the 80's.

The same issue comes up with Kareem, because do you count him for the 70's or 80's? He won most of his titles in the 80's, but he won more individual accolades in the 70's.

It's an inherently difficult determination to make.

There's a lot of players that deserve credit for multiple decades and are hard to place. While guys like Magic and Bird are pretty much known for one decade, how do you place guys like: Drexler, Barkley, Jordan, Kareem, Dr. J, etc..?
It's difficult for me to place guys like that but if you wanna put Jordan and Kareem in the 80s you can make a lineup of:

Kareem
Bird
Wilkins
Jordan
Magic

I'd like to see any other decades team try to top that.

Yeah, like I said I don't think you could beat an 80's team by putting Jordan and Kareem in there, though a 2000's could be tough by adding Lebron in there: Nash, Bryant, James, Duncan/KG, O'neal. That lineup is arguably best all-time, too, though Nash is a HUGE weak link defensively.

[Donoghus]

1960s

C: W.Chamberlain
F: B.Russell
F: E.Baylor
G: J.West
G: O.Robertson

That is going to be a tough team to beat.

Those guys are probably in their 70s, shouldn’t be too hard to beat.

Well, technically, they'd be down a man too.

[jpotter33]

The same issue comes up with Kareem, because do you count him for the 70's or 80's? He won most of his titles in the 80's, but he won more individual accolades in the 70's.

It's an inherently difficult determination to make.

This is an issue that can only be solved with a classic Celticsblog historical draft.  We need 7 GM's, each GM selects a decade (combining 40's/50's), can only pick a player who played in your decade, and once a player's picked he's off the board for everybody.

You get stuck with a lousy decade, then play defensive to mess with your opponents.  Draft Bob Cousy for the 70's team just to keep him off the 50's and 60's teams.  Draft '00 Pippen, so the '09 LeBron you drafted with your first pick doesn't have to worry about being shut down by '94 Pippen.

That could be fun.

TP, that would be pretty sweet. We should just go ahead and do it by the first 7 to comment on here, then use a random choice generator to see who gets to pick first decade, player, etc.

[D.o.s.]

How to account for rule changes across decades?

[Who]

Well see if you let players be in more than one decade then I think the 80's has it hands down due to the addition of Jordan. However, if you follow the rules above and only let a player represent one decade, then it becomes more difficult, because Jordan obviously belongs in the 90's over the 80's.

The same issue comes up with Kareem, because do you count him for the 70's or 80's? He won most of his titles in the 80's, but he won more individual accolades in the 70's.

It's an inherently difficult determination to make.

There's a lot of players that deserve credit for multiple decades and are hard to place. While guys like Magic and Bird are pretty much known for one decade, how do you place guys like: Drexler, Barkley, Jordan, Kareem, Dr. J, etc..?
It's difficult for me to place guys like that but if you wanna put Jordan and Kareem in the 80s you can make a lineup of:

Kareem
Bird
Wilkins
Jordan
Magic

I'd like to see any other decades team try to top that.

Yeah, like I said I don't think you could beat an 80's team by putting Jordan and Kareem in there, though a 2000's could be tough by adding Lebron in there: Nash, Bryant, James, Duncan/KG, O'neal. That lineup is arguably best all-time, too, though Nash is a HUGE weak link defensively.

I gotta go with Jason Kidd over Steve Nash. I think Kidd was the best PG of the decade anyway. But also, I think Nash needs his whole team to revolve around him to play at his peak. Kidd is a much better fit alongside a star-studded lineup like this.

I feel unsure about the big man combination.

Duncan & Shaq vs KG & Shaq vs KG & Duncan.

I think KG would play better alongside Shaq than Duncan would. Playing alongside Shaq would limit Duncan's post game and force to spend vast majority of his time in the high post where KG is the superior player. So I think KG works better with Shaq than Duncan would.

A Duncan & Garnett tandem would be beautiful too though. Two highly skilled versatile big men. I can't help but think they would get more out of their PG, SG and SF than a Shaq-centric offense would. Clearly superior defensive duo also. Create more space for Kobe and Pierce to play their best game.

[jpotter33]

How to account for rule changes across decades?

You mean like hand-check defense rules pre-Jordan versus post-Jordan?

There's turning out to be many more variables than I originally perceived  lol

[Donoghus]

How to account for rule changes across decades?

You mean like hand-check defense rules pre-Jordan versus post-Jordan?

There's turning out to be many more variables than I originally perceived  lol

Can we use the 50s/60s conditioning methods where they'd smoke cigarettes at halftime & work as insurance salesmen in the offseason too?